When The World Ends

A Memory to Die For

"You seem tired, Abi. Go to sleep, I'll make sure you don't fall out." Maya took a pillow from the bag and laid it on the side of the boat. She kept her hand on it until Abiona lay her head down. Despite the rushing waves, howling wind and the furious tide that was rising steadily by the second, she quickly relaxed but sleep did not come easily. Instead, she thought about the life she could have lead. One where she didn't know of the asylum. She just sat there, waiting for sleep to come until the sky had cleared and the sea calmed an hour later.

Zander shook his head, grinning over at the boys, who were taking it in turns to swim by the boat and get hit by as many waves as possible. Ethan pulled Sage over into the boat as he leapt in the water.
Zander stared as they took turns diving off the boat. Swimming gracefully over as he climbed onto it, Ethan took a spinning dive, disappearing beneath the waves. The three watched him for over twenty minutes, performing back flips into the water, when he dived back again for a final time as Sage joined him and the two began racing. Ethan had taken swimming lessons as a child, but Sage had never even seen the sea in his life.
Ethan stopped for a moment, eyes bright.
Zander glanced up to where Ethan was looking. His heart leapt with excitement as a rock came in to veiw, poking just above the water's surface. It might not have seemed like much but at that moment, he locked eyes with Ethan and they both knew that this meant land was near. Sage stood in the water, which sat at his shoulders. He must have been around a mile ahead as he walked through the waves.
Unedited from this point on.
Almost immediatly, he turned on the spot and raced back, only just seeming to realize how far ahead he had swam. His feet hammered at the light waves and his arms clumsily hit the water. He seemed in so much of a rush, there were tears in his eyes as he pushed against the waves, although he wore a broad smile. Abiona was showered with seawater at Sage's arrival, awakening her as the land finally broke through the mist.
The sandy beach up ahead broke off into two pathways on either side of a cliff, one clearly heading to an assortment of beach huts, and as they came closer, a tall forest became visible over a hill at the end of the path on the left.
"Okay, everyone out." Zander ordered.
"Why?" Maya tossed the pillow over to Ethan, who lay down in the boat, as Maya did the same. The water lapped at Zander's knees as he flicked water at the two of them.
Abiona, however, pulled up her trousers to her knees and followed Zander into the water. She tried to avoid his eyes as she took the rope and started to pull the boats to shore. She could feel his eyes on her as she worked, feeling more uncomfortable by the second. The other two were still 'sleeping' in the boats as Sage finally ran up to them and pushed the boats from behind.
The four of them finally pulled the boats onto the sand after about half an hour of struggling. After the first ten minutes, Ethan dived back into the water to help, leaving Maya the only one still in the boats.
"Thanks Maya. You really helped." Zander scoffed.
"I thought 'girls aren't strong enough to help'. It took me over an hour just for you to let me carry the bag of blankets."
"You're still stressing over that? Come on, I didn't mean it! I let Beckett help."
"Guys, come on, let's forget about it now. Are you coming, Maya?" Sage sighed.
"Yeah."
She pulled herself up and unscrewed the plastic bolt on the boat to let it deflate. Zander packed all three into a spare bag as Abiona wound up the rope. The three of them carried everything and they made off toward the right path, Sage and Ethan already searching the beach hits.
"Wait." At the hut along, Maya stood in the doorway, a tattered and water-damaged photo in her trembling hand. "I knew it. I knew I recognised this place. Look!"
The others gathered around to see. The photograph showed a young, blonde girl playing in the sand. She was probably around five, but with her bright blonde hair and blue eyes, it was unmistakably Maya.
"This was the weekend before the government made my parents send me to the asylum. I never saw them again."
Abiona stood silently. She couldn't imagine how hard this must have been for her. She never had a family.
She had been living in the asylum all her life. She had known Zander from a very young age. He had been sent there at two, when she was one, and he had saved her life by taking the blame for turning the heat on in mid-winter.
She only had one more strike until she had a death penalty, and frost was forming in her cell.
Zander took full blame and only returned a week later, covered in scars and bruises.
There were prominent marks around his throat and his wrists were hacked to the point where one hand couldn't move. It took four years to work normally again, and Zander had never asked for so much as a 'thank you'.
He was only two years old, yet Abiona would be in his debt for life.
"Look," Sage elbowed past and took the photo. "Look at this stamp. It says..."
"Jaygate." Ethan finished. "Is that where we are?"
Maya smiled. "Yes. I remember now. My parents lived here with me and my sister. She was twelve at the time. They took her too. Just not to the asylum. It was my fault. Right in front of me... they-" Before she could finish, she burst into tears, crying on Ethan's shoulder. He patted her back sympathetically as she cried.
Abiona and Sage stood around them as Zander guarded the bags. He was smiling. Smiling manically. His eyes cold, dark and grey. It took willpower to hold back a laugh. He slipped a knife from a bag and clutched the handle.
He could hear it.
The others were distracted.
Just as he had planned.